A barrier device is a structure that is designed to prohibit people, vehicles or other machinery from entering a protected space. The need for barrier devices has increased over the years, especially in view of the increased threat of terrorist attacks on civilian, military and government targets both in the United States and abroad. Moreover, as the technical capabilities, quality of equipment and potency of bombs and other explosive devices employed by terrorists and/or insurgents has increased, so has the need to maintain a more secure, stable, robust and/or larger perimeter around our troops and/or target structures.
A variety of devices have been developed to absorb the kinetic energy generated by the impact of a colliding vehicle. One such structure is the highway barrier. Highway barriers are designed to provide a continuous wall or barrier along the center line of a highway when laid end-to-end to absorb grazing blows from moving vehicles. One commonly used highway barrier is formed of pre-cast reinforced concrete, and is known as the “New Jersey” style barrier. Highway barriers of this type have a relatively wide base including side walls which extend vertically upwardly from the pavement a short distance, then angle inwardly and upwardly to a vertically extending top portion connected to the top wall of the barrier. This design is intended to contact and redirect the wheels of a vehicle in a direction toward the lane of traffic in which the vehicle was originally traveling, instead of the lane of opposing traffic. An example of such a highway barrier is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,362, issued Nov. 22, 1977. Highway barriers, however, are not specifically designed to absorb a head-on collision from a vehicle or to successfully withstand an explosive attack. Moreover, because highway barriers have a typical weight of about 2,800-3,200 pounds and require special equipment to load, unload and handle, highway barriers are incapable of being rapidly deployed to form a protective perimeter in a short amount of time. Finally, because highway barriers are constructed of concrete, high barriers will shatter and create dangerous debris during an impact event. Thus, the typical highway barrier does not serve as an adequate shield for personnel because the debris from the highway barrier is equivalent to shrapnel.
While a number of barrier devices have been specifically developed to maintain a safe distance between our troops (and/or target structures) and any suicide bombers either walking or operating a vehicle, existing barrier devices are less than optimal. Existing barrier devices are either: (1) not strong enough; (2) difficult or time consuming to set up; (3) easy to by-pass or destroy; and and/or (4) inadequate in preserving an acceptable perimeter.
An example of an existing barrier device is disclosed in U.S. Design Patent 500,859 (“Dehat”), issued Jan. 11, 2005. The Dehart barrier is an assembly of several steel plates stood upright in an opposing orientation and connected to each other by two long poles/rods. The Dehart barrier suffers from a variety of disadvantages. First, the Dehart barrier is a solid unitary structure that is heavy, cumbersome, time consuming and difficult to handle and deploy. As a result, heavy equipment, such as cranes, lifts, or the like are necessary to handle and deploy the Dehart barrier. Second, the Dehart barrier offers little to no protection to people or structures on one side of the barrier from debris, gunfire or other shrapnel that may result from a vehicle or other attack on the opposite side of the barrier. Third, the Dehart barrier device contains no means by which it can be easily connected and secured to another Dehart barrier device or structure to increase the protected perimeter in a stable and robust arrangement.
A second barrier device that exits has been built by Lawrence Livermore of the National Laboratory at the University of California. The Livermore barrier is made for military checkpoints and is a long pipe-like device connected by an ordinary steel cable. The steel cable is secured at each of its end to a separate vehicle which pull the ends of the cable in opposite directions, thereby removing slack from the cable. While the Livermore barrier may be able to stop a terrorist bomber, it does not appear to be capable of deployment in short notice. Moreover, the Livermore barrier suffers from many of the drawbacks set forth above with respect to the Dehart barrier.
Finally, because the Livermore barrier requires that the cable be taut in order to properly work, at least one soldier must be located in each vehicle (at opposite ends of the cable) in order to make the barrier work. Therefore, you have at least two soldiers exposed to the terrorist vehicle. Additionally, a soldier inspecting a suspect vehicle is still in danger because he/she must be in front of the Livermore barrier.
Thus, a need exists for a more stable, rapidly deployable, robust, and improved barrier system, apparatus, and method.